Roller bearing



H. N. PARSONS ROLLER BEARING Feb. 6, 1951 Filed Dec. 5, 1946 PatentedFeb. 6, 1951 ROLLER BEARING Harry N. Parsons, Chicago, 111., assignor toInternational Harvester Company, a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationDecember 5, 1946, Serial No. 714,341

A further important object of this invention is to provide a method ofconstructing a roller bearing cage.

-- A still further object is to provide an assembly for roller bearingswhich is simple and economica'l.

Other and further important objects of this invention will becomeapparent from the disclosures in the following specification andaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a side elevational view of the roller bearing of thisinvention; (7

Figure 2 is an end view of the roller bearing shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the concentric ringscomposing th end member exploded at one end thereof; I

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is an elevational View showing an end supporting ring prior toits completion;

Figure 6 shows the end rings after completion;

Figure '7 is a sectional view similar to Figure 4 and showing a modifiedconstruction thereof.

The reference numeral N) indicates generally a plurality of rollerbearing members. As shown in Figure 2 these rollers l are evenly spacedin an annular path and are relatively large in diameter. The rollers aremaintained in spaced position by a cage H which consists of spaced endmembers 12 and I3, and stay or tie rods M of relatively smallerdiameter. The end member 13 consists of a pair of concentricjrin'gmembers l and [6 having a radial spacing equal to the diameter of thesta rods. The rings I 5 and It are identical in every respect except forthe difference in diameter. This is more completely shown in Figure 3wherein the inner ring l5 and the outer ring I6 have been shown in anexploded manner. Each of the rings l5 and It is 2 spectively. When therings are assembled as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and as shown for themember I2 in Figure 3, the pockets I! and I8 receive the ends of therollers 10. The pockets I1 and H; are of a size slightly less than thdiameter of the rollers I0 and hence the roller is confined within thecage after assembly is completed.

The stay rods [4 act to maintain thee'nd members l2 and IS in fixedlylaterally spaced apart position. In addition, the stay rods by reason oftheir ends I!) maintain the inner and outer ring members [5 and IS infixed spaced apart concentric relationship as best shown in Figure 2.After assembly of the rollers in the cage I I the concentric end ringsl5 and [6 are welded to the ends I9 of the stay rods It at 20 and 2|.This is shown more particularl in Figures 2 and 4; In order tofacilitate assembly and spacing, the stay rods [4 are provided withannular shoulders 22 and 23. The annular shoulders 22 and 23 aresufficiently large so that the concentric rings l5 and It cannot bemoved inwardly between these shoulders and hence the lateral spacing ofthe end members I2 and l3 is easily accomplished with identical spacingon each occasion.

The roller bearing which is described is of the type generally used onfarm implements, but of course it should be realized that this bearingconstruction is not so limited. The rollers 10 are relatively long andit would not be feasible to have the end members l2 and E3 formed from asingle piece of material. roller bearings which emplo relatively shortrollers the concentric end rings are formed from single rings such asshown in Figure 5. The ring 24 is provided with rectangular pockets 25for reception of the roller bearings. The ring 24 is only one of twoconcentric rings. As shown in Figure 5 only very short rollers could beheld within the slots 25 formed in the ring. In the construction of thepresent bearing cage, the ring 24 is cut through the center thereof asshown.

in Figure 6, forming two ring members 26 and 21 each having half of therectangular slots 25 shown as open end pockets 28 and 29. It should berealized that after the ring 24 has been split into the rings 26 and 2any length rollers may be used merely by changing the length of the stayrods I4. The rings as shown in Figures 5 and 6 may be any diameter. Inorder to make various sized roller bearings it is only necessary tochange the size of diameter of the cage end rings. The rings arerelatively standard and for examplethe provided with notches or pocketsgl -l and I8 rering l5 shown as the inner ring in th bearing of In theconstruction of Figures 1, 2, and 3 may be used as an outer ring for asmaller diameter roller bearing, and similarly, for a larger bearing,the present outer ring [6 may be used as an inner ring. From this it isevident that the ring is conducive to good economical manufacture andthe assembly is relatively easily accomplished merely by holding thevarious elements in a jig or the like while welding of the stay rod endsbetween the concentric and rings.

Heretofore cages for roller bearings have been of the cast type or ofsheet metal bent and stamped to form the pockets from a single piece ofmaterial. The stamping required considerably more material andnecessitated sharp bends which contributed greatly to weakening of thecage. Further, the Waste in material is much greater from the formationof an end cage member from flat sheets of material than the relativelysmall waste which accompanies the formation of the cage end members froma tubular stock. The tube is out off in short lengths such as shown inFigure and then has stamped therein the rectangular pockets wereupon therin is then out in half, forming opposed end rings.

Figure 7 shows a modified construction for an outer concentric ring 33.An inner concentric ring 3| is similar in all respects to the ring I5shown for the preceding figures. The ring 36 and 3| support a rollerbearing member 32 in pockets 33 formed therein. A spacer member or stayrod 34 is provided with an annular shoulder or raised portion 35 againstwhich the inner portions of the rings 33 and 3i abut. An extens on 36 ofthe stay rod 34 extends in between the concentric rings and and is heldtherein by welding shown at 31 and 38. In the construction shown in thisFigure 7 the outer concentric ring 39 is provided. with a laterallyex-ending porlion 39 shown in dashed lines. Alter assimbly of the rollerbearing in the manner described above, the lateral extension 39 is bentdownwardly as shown in full lines with the lower end thereof comingflush with the inner concentric ring 3!. This construction isadvantageous in that it fern-cs a dust and dirt shield and adds to thestrength of the bearing cage.

Many details of construction may be varied throughout a wide rangewithout departing from the principles disclosed herein, and I thereforedo not propose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than asnecessitated by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A bearing comprising a plurality of rollers, a cage for supportingthe ends of said rollers,

said cage including a pair of end members, and a plurality of stay rodsextending between said end members and maintaining them in spaced apartposition, said end members having inwardly opening sockets to receiveand hold said rollers, and each of said end members including a pair ofconcentric rings, said sockets formed of less diameter than the diameterof the rollers and greater than the radial distance between theconcentric rings, said stay rods having end portions extending betweenand maintaining said rings concentric.

2. A bearing comprising a plurality of large diameter rollers, a cagefor supporting the ends of said rollers, said cage including a pair ofend members, and a. plurality of relatively small diameter stay rodsextending between said end members and maintaining them in spaced apartposition, said end members having inwardly opening sockets to receiveand hold said rollers, and each of said end members including a pair ofconcentric rings radially spaced apart a d. stance equal to the diameterof the stay rods, said stay rods having end portions extending betweenand maintaining said rings concentric and said stay rod end portionswelded between said concentric rings.

3. A cage for large diameter roller bearings comprising laterally spacedend members, said end members including concen.ric rings with inwardlyopening roller receiving pockets formed to include a chord of said largediameter roller and thus confine the roller therein, s'ay rods ofrelatlvely small diameter having laterally spaced shoulders and endportions extending beyond said shoulders of a diameter equal to theradial spacing of said concentric rings, said end portions positionedbetween the concentric rings of the end members and said end membersabutting said spaced shoulders, and weld fastening means holdsaid endportions between the concentric rings to fixedly maintain said endmembers in spaced apart position and said rings in conccntricity.

HARRY N. PARSONS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 979,881 Palmer Dec. 27, 19101,372,146 Klavon Mar. 22, 1921 1,609,618 Gallagher et a1 Dec. 7, 19262,052,292 Hartmann Aug. 25, 1936 2,327,237 Baden Aug. 17, 1943

